First published 2013
Rick Atkinson concludes his Liberation Trilogy by chronicling the final Allied campaign to defeat Nazi Germany. After covering North Africa and Italy in his previous volumes, Atkinson turns to the climactic battles for Western Europe from D-Day through German surrender. His approach weaves together perspectives from multiple levels of command, from presidents and generals down to exhausted lieutenants and frightened teenage soldiers. The narrative spans the brutal Normandy fighting, Paris liberation, the failed Operation Market Garden, the savage Battle of the Bulge, and the final push into the Third Reich. Atkinson draws on extensive new source material to reconstruct these pivotal events. The book reveals both the staggering human cost of the global conflict and the massive effort required to achieve Allied victory. Readers gain insight into the twentieth century's greatest military campaign through the experiences of those who lived it.
Genres: 20th-century, world-war-ii, non-fiction, 21st-century, military-history, american-history
Vibes: emotional, fast-paced, thought-provoking
Tropes: based-on-true-events, multiple-perspectives
Setting: Germany, Normandy, Paris
Period: D-Day, World War II
877 pages · Hardcover · Henry Holt and Co.
Content warnings: violence, war